When Worlds Collide
by SakuraBubbles the Muffin Child
Summary: FF7/NMBC Crossover Cloud Strife is haunted by dreams of opening a mysterious pumpkin door and so he searches for answers. Meanwhile, trouble is brewing in Halloween Town...and not thanks to Oogie Boogie, but to the evil one-winged angel Sephiroth... R&R!
1. Where Halloween Never Ends

Okay, this started off as a Nightmare Before Christmas fic, but I have a feeling the readers were getting a little uncomfortable with the FF7-ness of the fic. I hope you can all handle it!  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Nightmare Before Christmas…curse that Tim Burton…he could give it to me…And I don't own the FF7 characters either, Squaresoft owns them!   
  


Chapter One: Where Halloween Never Ends...

  
  
  
Cloud Strife studied the Key of the Ancients on his desk in his current home in Nibelheim, his aquamarine eyes serious and narrow as he examined it. He had been having some odd dreams lately about this key…unlocking some sort of door. Whenever he opened the door in the dream, he saw a flash of Mako-green eyes and then heard the voice of an innocent friend who was killed…  
"Cloud?"   
The ex-SOLDIER practically jumped out of his skin as he heard a voice call him softly. He turned and saw his best friend since childhood, Tifa Lockeheart, peeking around the doorframe, her chocolate brown hair falling in her position. Smiling beautifully to match the rest of her, the woman spoke as she stepped into the room, "If you stare at that key too long you'll turn into a key yourself." She brushed a strand of hair out of her ruby red eyes and sat on a chair across from Cloud. He half smiled at her.   
"I've been drawn to this key for a while now," his voice soft and low. "I mean, who knows…there could be something more to this key than Bugenhagen thought."   
Tifa shrugged, remembering the astrologist from Cosmo Canyon--a village not too far from Nibelheim--and carefully picked up the Key of the Ancients. It wasn't incredibly heavy, which didn't match its size of almost four feet long. It certainly didn't look like a regular door key…which added to its mystery. This key helped unlock some of the mysteries in the City of Ancients, where the innocent flower girl Aeris Gainsborough was murdered by--  
  
"Sephiroth?"   
"Who's he?"   
"I dunno. I heard the wind speaking about someone named Sephiroth."   
"What a dumb name."   
"Shut up Barrel."   
"You shut up Shock!"   
"Both of you be quiet!"   
"Who says I'm gonna listen to you?"   
"Yeah, yeah! You don't tell me what to do Lock!"   
The three undead children soon quieted down however, as they heard the clicking of boots echoing through the cobblestone alleyway they were in. They hid behind a dead tree, scared of whoever was making the nerve-racking sound. Through the eye holes of their masks they saw a man with waist-length gray-white hair that heavily contrasted his black trench coat that ended like demonic wings reaching outward. And almost directly on his right shoulder blade grew a long, black wing, folded limply. His sinister, almost glowing green eyes scanned his surroundings carefully. On his black belt at his waist was a sheath of a very long sword, and something told the three hiding trick-or-treaters that he was more demonic than Oogie Boogie, destroyed by the Pumpkin King only a few months ago.   
It was him. The killer of Aeris. The master of destruction.   
Sephiroth.   
  
_The door…_A plain wooden door with an orange shape in the center of it. Cloud couldn't quite make the shape out--this dream was always blurry. He looked down at the Key of the Ancients in his hand, then looked at the door again. He noticed a keyhole and as he always did in this dream, thrust the key into the hole, then turned it. After hearing a satisfying _click,_ Cloud pulled back the key and turned the doorknob slowly.   
Through the door was darkness…then in a flash, there were eyes…green Mako eyes…and then a soft, feminine voice…contrary to the one he was about to hear.   
**"Strife!"**  
Cloud popped his eyes open to find Cid Highwind, owner, builder, and pilot of an airship named Highwind, frowning at him. Yawning as he brushed some spiky blonde bangs out of his eyes, Cloud replied, "I'm awake."   
"It's about @#$&!%# time! We're about to land near the excavation site. Do ya wanna get off or do ya wanna just keep sleeping?!"   
Cloud peered out the nearest window and saw the forests surrounding a fairly large cleared out patch with tents littered here and there. It was Bone Village, grown a little since the last time that Cloud had been there. Some of the workers there had contacted Tifa and Cloud about some sort of a hidden passage in the Sleeping Forest, which lies beyond Bone Village. Cloud felt that somehow, this new passage was connected to his dream.  
Cid took his cigarette out of his mouth and smothered it in the nearest ash tray, then looked to Cloud with his bright blue eyes, ignoring a strand of pale blonde hair that had creeped under Cid's brown goggles.  
"So what're you gonna do once you get to the site?"  
"Find that passage and follow it, of course."  
"Whatcha think yer gonna find?"  
"No clue."  
"Tch...well we're here. Get off."  
Along with Tifa, who was holding the Lunar Harp in her gloved hands, Cloud headed to the Bone Village. The Lunar Harp had some sort of connection with the Sleeping Forest, allowing the holder of the harp to pass. Upon their arrival, a man in working clothes stepped up to them.   
"Would you like me to lead you to the passage in the forest?" he asked eagerly. Just as Cloud was about to answer him, he heard a whisper…  
_"Go alone..."_  
Cloud's intense Mako eyes searched around for the voice, but could find no one that could have matched it. It was a somewhat high-pitched feminine voice, but had a mysterious flavor to it. Closing his eyes and seeing the door he wanted to find so badly, he answered the man's question.   
"No, thanks. Tifa, hand over the harp. I'm checking this out on my own."   
"No way!" protested Tifa, clutching the Lunar Harp tighter to her relatively large bust ((reviwers: relatively?? me: well...I shrunk 'em)). "I wanna check this out too!"   
"Tifa…"  
Tifa matched his glance with her own eyes. But his eyes, when sad like that, always hypnotized her into doing what he asked. Lazily, she handed over the harp.   
"Have it your way. I'll wait here, I guess. Don't take too long, all right?"   
Cloud nodded. He had his Buster sword tightly strapped to his back on the baultric he had on reaching from his his right shoulder to his left hip and back again, fully wrapping around his torso. The Key of the Ancients was at his side, and the Lunar Harp was in his left hand. Tifa watched him as if from a great distance a he stepped forward toward the entrance of the forest, his footsteps sounding final, as if he would never return. Once he entered, his eyes wandered all around, looking for wherever the passage was.   
_"Go left, then right, then straight until you reach your final destination…"_  
It was the voice again. Cloud, in instinct, gripped the hilt of his sword, but when the voice repeated itself, Cloud felt calm and released his hilt. There never were any monsters in this forest, so he relazed further and walked through a small clearing on his left side. He continued straight until he heard the voice order him to go right. To his right was a small stream, and only a few logs and a large stone here and there to get him across. He succeeded in getting across, but he got his boots and the very bottom of his dark purple pant leg wet. It didn't phase him, of course.   
Following the voice's orders, he continued straight, wondering why he saw no sign of the gorge that hid the City of the Ancients. He almost was worried that he was simply going in circles, but his nerves were calmed as he heard the voice humming softly. He then noticed a small box ahead of him, and thinking it were something of great value, he ran toward it, only to find that it rested in front of a dead-end.   
Confused and disappointed a bit, Cloud patted the rough mountainside dead-end, thinking that there was the door in his dreams. But there was nothing. Shrugging, Cloud opened the box behind him…  
"What the hell is this?!"   
The only thing that was in the box was a small, six-inch tall bottle with a cork keeping the black, bubbling substance inside. It wasn't a Potion, nor and Ether, or any sort of curative item he had ever seen before.   
"I came all of this way for…whatever the hell this stuff is?"   
_"Yes…and it is time for you to come to where I am..."_  
Cloud once again heard the voice, and then the bottle suddenly shattered, spilling the black goo everywhere. Cloud was startled, but before he could even get his hand on the handle of his mighty Buster sword, the shadow goo surrounded him and lifted up from the ground. Then, like a monster's jaws, the strange goo closed over the ex-SOLDIER.  
  
_"Open your eyes..."_  
Cloud squinted his closed eyes a bit, feeling light attack them. He then fluttered them open. Above him were the tops of trees, but bare trees, not the full ones he had just seen in the Sleeping Forest. Sitting up, he realized that he was no longer in the Sleeping Forest at all…  
He then stood up, brushing off any dirt that attached to his dark purple clothing or dirty silver armor. He blinked, feeling different. He felt something itching him on his back. Turning his head toward his left shoulder, he saw a black bat-like wing stretched out in alertness. He smirked after he flapped the wing, interested rather than scared.   
_"See the doors on the trees?"_  
Cloud focused his attention to the six thick trees that surrounded him. All of the trees had doors that were shaped oddly. One was shaped like an egg, another like a large, fat bird--not a Chocobo however, another like a big heart, another like a leaf, or a shamrock as Cloud remembered the name of the petal design. The other door was shaped like a tree and the final door that Cloud spotted was shaped like a pumpkin. All of these doors had a lock on the side…  
Cloud felt the Key of the Ancients become heavy at his side.   
_"You know what to do, don't you?"_  
"Open…" Cloud said in a quiet voice. He looked to the door shaped like a pumpkin and untied the key from his belt. "Open this one…" He lifted the key and then did as he did in the numerous dreams. The familiar sound of the key turning…The familiar _click_…  
The key shattered in Cloud's hand as the door opened. He felt himself being sucked in toward the darkness the door once hid. He tried to resist being pulled in…  
_"Don't be afraid!"_  
"Shut up already!" yelled Cloud in fury. He had no idea what exactly was going on…how _dare_ whoever was speaking to him tell him not to be afraid!  
_"Please listen…Jack and I need your help…It's--"_  
The voice was replaced by a different voice…  
**"Enter if you dare…worthless puppet…"**  
Cloud's eyes widened. He knew that deep, sinister voice…Was…Was _he_ inside this door? Inside this darkness?   
**"COME AND GET ME!"**  
Cloud needed no other invitation. He finally let himself be drawn into the void…  
  
Cloud was awakened this time by someone humming softly. It was the same tune that the feminine voice was humming back in the Sleeping Forest. Cloud sat up as he ran a hand through his spiky blonde and saw a girl around his age sitting on a chair, cross-legged, twirling a flower, humming softly. Upon closer inspection, Cloud could see stitches running along her flesh…if you could call it flesh. Cloud blinked and shook his head a bit, but the girl looked the same, her limbs tightly sewn together and her yarn hair reaching down to her backside.   
Sensing that Cloud was awake, the doll-like girl turned to him, putting down the flower she held.   
"Oh, you're awake," she spoke. It was the voice that had been speaking to him since Bone Village. "My name is Sally…I'd like to welcome you to Halloween Town."   
"Halloween Town?" repeated Cloud softly. Sally nodded, then turned towards a window next to the bed Cloud was sitting on. She gestured for him to look, so he did. His eyes widened once again as he saw ghosts, demons, and many other spooky looking creatures in the small patch of the town below him. He then saw a fairly big guillotine fairly near to the window he was looking out of. There was a well with oddly colored water boiling in it in the center of the town. There were small children playing around it and the large guillotine as well.   
Sally and Cloud both turned around as they heard a knock at the door.   
"Sally, it's me, Jack!" exclaimed a voice enthusiastically. Sally smiled and headed to the dark door (that Cloud almost didn't notice, thanks to the matching dark colors around the door) and opened it. Cloud blinked as a tall and skinny…skeleton walked into the room, crouching a bit to get inside the room without bumping his head on the door board. He had a wide grin on his face and empty sockets where his eyes should be. But he wasn't spooky. Especially not to Cloud. He looked very kind and obviously got the fancy of the smiling Sally. He wore a black tuxedo with white stripes going up and down throughout the entire outfit that hugged his skinny frame. His bowtie was a decorative bat--or maybe it was once a real, living bat. Cloud couldn't be sure in this place; this skeleton was a very interesting skeleton indeed.  
Turning his head toward the very confused human still sitting on the plain white bed, the well dressed skeleton said in a kind voice, "Ah, you must be Cloud." With an odd smile almost reaching around his circular head, he introduced himself with a slight, lanky bow. "I am Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town. I hope you enjoy your stay here…"  
  


* * *

  
Well, I hope you all liked it. If you've never played Final Fantasy 7, then contact me with any questions you have at Misty6422@aol.com. Please review, that would be very nice and it would tell me where this story should be on my list of priorities. Bai bai now! ::bows and runs away:: 


	2. Well This Is Odd

Thanks for the reviews everyone! ONWARD!   
DISCLAIMER: I don't own FF7 or NMBC  
  


Chapter Two: Well This is Odd

  
  


* * *

  
"Halloween Town?" repeated Cloud, raising a blonde eyebrow. Jack nodded his big round head. Cloud continued, "Where on the Planet is that?"   
Sally looked to Jack. He shrugged to her.   
"You brought him here."   
Sally nodded and looked to Cloud, saying, "This…isn't on your…'Planet.' This is a separate world…I brought you here because someone appeared here and is making trouble that is causing the ghosts in the graveyard to complain, mothers…and children too."   
Cloud lay down, putting his hands behind his head, bending one leg lazily. He had to move his wing a bit as he lay-he had forgotten it was there.   
"And this concerns me how?"   
"…We need your help to stop him."   
"Why my help?"   
Jack spoke up.   
"You've defeated him before."   
Cloud blinked then glared at the truth, which right now was the ceiling above him.   
"I've killed many. Be more specific."   
The trio was interrupted by a different trio. Three young children, all in costumes, opened the door and bounded in. One, the only girl, was dressed up as a witch. The two boys were dressed up in a devil costume and a skeleton costume, the fatter one dressed in the latter costume.  
"J-Jack!" exclaimed the girl, her high pitched voice annoying Cloud a bit.  
"We saw him!" cried the skinny boy, who Cloud guessed as their leader.  
"He's scary!" added the fat one a bit stupidly. Cloud determined that one to be the moron of the trio ((not saying fat people are morons-Barrel's character _is_ the dumb one, as the song says ^_^)).  
"Who?" asked Jack as he bent his long, skinny legs so he could be a little closer to their heights.   
"Sermaloth!" the fat one spoke up again. The witch hit him for his error.   
"That's not his name!"   
"Phph…as if you know his name," remarked the devil. The witch glared.   
"I do! It's…it's Sakeroth!"   
"That's definitely _not_ it!" "Oh yeah? Then what is it?"   
"…………….."  
"See you dunno either!!"   
Jack cut in.   
"_Who_ is it?!"   
But the children continued to bicker. Jack looked up to Cloud.   
"One moment please."   
Blinking like an owl, Cloud watched as Jack pulled down his jawbone and roared at the kids, causing them to gasp and immediately shut their mouths. Jack replaced his jawbone and stood up, bending now at the waist.   
"So…who was it?"   
"Well, it definitely began with an 'S…'" replied the girl. Jack nodded and looked to Cloud again, straightening fully, the tail of his coat flapping slightly. Cloud seemed to get the idea.  
"Sephiroth."   
"That's it! That's what it was!" exclaimed all three of the kids in unison. Cloud glared again at nothing in particular.   
"What…That explains the Mako eyes…but still…why is he here…"  
"Mako?" asked Sally, finally speaking after all of the chattering from the children. Cloud looked to her and shook his head.   
"Nevermind…how long has he been here? Why is he here?"   
"He's been here about a year…"  
Cloud could have guessed that. It had been that much time since Sephiroth's fall and the Lifestream's halting of Meteor destroying the planet. Midgar had suffered the most damage, but repairs were already going into effect.   
"…and we're not sure why he's here," continued Jack. "This is the first time we've had ghosts like this…"  
"'Ghosts?' You mean there's another ghost here besides Sephiroth?" asked Cloud. Sally nodded.   
"She's a strange one…she's been picking out all of the weeds that I need for potions and-"  
"Sally? Saaaaally?" called a croaky voice from downstairs. Jack looked to the door.   
"That's Dr. Finklestien. Sally, I'm sure I can answer any of Cloud's other questions. Why don't we head downstairs? And thank you, you three," said Jack. He turned to the children and gave them each a candy of some sort for their help before all three ran out the still door. Sally nodded to him.   
"Why don't you take him on a tour of Halloween Town so he can get used to it?"   
"Good idea. How about it Cloud?" asked Jack. Cloud shrugged.   
"I'm sure Sephiroth won't show himself for a while."   
"Great! Down we go then!"   
"Sally! I need those rat lungs!" called the doctor downstairs. Cloud blinked as he got up off the bed. Sally put her small hands to her head.   
"Oh no! I forgot to replace them!"   
Without another word, the rag doll ran downstairs ahead of Jack and Cloud. Cloud found that he would blinking in confusion a lot while here…  
So down the two went: first Jack and then Cloud. It was a long way down a spiral staircase and Cloud noticed many unusual things on his way down. Some interesting, some scary, and others were mind boggling. Cloud was two preoccupied looking at the…whatever they were, as Cloud put it, he didn't notice that Jack had stopped and so the spiky haired ((not a word but who cares)) ex-SOLDIER bumped into him. He apologized as the skeleton looked at him oddly, ignoring Sally's faint giggles.  
"It's all right-just as long as you don't knock my head off. I look incredibly silly looking around for it or if it's not on correctly," Jack replied to Cloud's apology. Before Cloud could express his confusion, however, he realized why they had stopped. A man with an oddly shaped head was staring at the three of them, his gloved hands on his wheelchair controls as if he were going to ram them down like bowling pins. He had dark circular goggles around what Cloud imagined to be tiny little eyes.   
"Sally, why didn't you say we had company?" he asked, his voice even more irritable than when Cloud heard it upstairs. Sally looked to Jack quick and then back to the man in the wheelchair.   
"I thought you were asleep," she lied. The man bought the fib and then glided closer to Jack and Cloud.   
"Sally, why don't you go help Margaret with the dinner?" he asked of her, not glancing at her, however. She nodded and walked off slowly, as if to still listen to what the three men had to say. First, Jack spoke.   
"Well Dr. Finklestien, I see Margaret is working fine."   
"Oh yes," replied-Cloud tried to remember the name-Dr. Finklestien. "Her cooking is her only weakness."   
"So it's certainly good that you and Sally worked things out, because you and I both know that Sally is a great cook!"   
Dr. Finklestien nodded and then looked to Cloud. When Cloud said nothing, the doctor added, "When she isn't trying to poison me."   
Cloud heard a faint but still loud stomp coming from the room Sally walked off to. Obviously, she was still listening. Nervously chuckling, Jack finally introduced Cloud, which was apparently what the doctor had wanted.   
"Terribly sorry-I got carried away. Doctor, this is Cloud Strife, visiting on some…personal matters. Cloud, this is Dr. Finklestien, the best scientist in Halloween Town-"  
"The _only_ scientists in Halloween Town," corrected the doctor. Cloud smirked a bit, suddenly making a comparison to this doctor and Hojo, the mad scientist who was responsible for both Sephiroth's creation and his god-like abilities.   
"R-right…oh, sorry again Dr. Finklestien, but I promised Mr. Strife a tour of Halloween Town."   
"Then I can't keep you from your promises. Be careful of that man wreaking havoc everywhere. He may stop if he finds whatever he's looking for, but you can't be sure-"  
"What? He's looking for something?" Cloud urgently interrupted the doctor.   
"Well I don't know…ask the ghosts near the bridge to Oogie's old place. They say they see him around that place all the time. They speak of him looking for something."   
Cloud frowned and tilted his head downward in thought. He suddenly pictured Sephiroth running around like a housemaid searching for a lost item that made him crack a smile. But he knew the seriousness ((hey cool that's really a word)) of the situation: Sephiroth could be searching for anything…and whatever it was, it couldn't be good. It might even be something that could bring destruction to the world…  
"Let's head out then," spoke Jack, breaking through Cloud's thoughts. Almost dumbly he nodded in response, and then the two headed out.   
  
"Jack, you said earlier that there were never ghosts like Sephiroth here before."   
"Yes…"  
"What exactly did you mean?"   
Jack opened the gate that separated the observatory from the main part of Halloween Town and let Cloud go first. After Jack shut the gate again, a plain white ghost passed through the bars of it, closely resembling a bed sheet.   
"Morning Jack. No need to reopen the gate for me," the ghost said, its voice chilly. Cloud could see straight through him where his eye sockets were and whenever it opened its mouth. The rest of him was partially transparent.   
Chuckling a bit, Jack waved to him.   
"Morning…Hey, have you been around the bridge lately?"   
"Yeah."   
"Have you seen…?"  
"Yeah."   
"Do you know if he's still there?"  
"No."   
Jack frowned slightly as Cloud smirked. An unenthusiastic ghost…what would he see next?   
"Well, thank you anyway," said Jack. The ghost nodded and flew off as Jack turned to Cloud, starting to walk through the town. "Those are the only kind of ghosts we have. But now Sephiroth has appeared…he was quiet for a long time, but he's been attacking the ghosts that get too close to Oogie's manor…and he even destroyed the bridge leading to the manor so no one can get to him."  
"Who is that Oogie guy?" asked Cloud after gaping as a slimy green-brown…man walked by him.   
"His name was Oogie Boogie. He was the meanest and cruelest ghoul in all of Halloween Town…He took scaring mortals to a new level and was even convicted of killing a few. Instead of kicking him out, however, we just swore him off into an area where he couldn't get to Halloween Town very easily. Those three kids that saw Sephiroth were his helper's for a while, but in truth, they were scared of him and just helped him so he wouldn't go after them. A few months ago, he got out of hand again and tried to kill Sally and myself. However, he got caught in his own trap, and was literally ripped apart at the seams. The manor was soon reoccupied by Sephiroth, and that's when he started to get violent."   
"So he was here before you stopped Oogie?" asked Cloud. He felt ridiculous saying that name.   
"Yes…but he was never a threat, so we took no heed of him."   
Cloud bit his lower lip softly as he pondered on the new information Jack gave him.   
"What about that weed-picking ghost Sally was talking about?"   
"I'm not entirely familiar with that one…"  
Jack stopped at the guillotine and looked to another gate, then back to Cloud and stated, "That's the gate to the first part of the graveyard…do you want to search for Sephiroth and the other ghost?"   
"Yeah…better try to finish him off for good while we can…"  
Jack nodded and stepped up a few steps before getting to the gate. As he opened it, Cloud flapped his wing a bit, forgetting it was there again. He looked to it.   
"I'll never get used to this thing…"  
"You mean you never used to have it before you came here?"   
"Never…Hey, speaking of 'before I came here,' how _did_ I get here?"   
Jack put one slender bony finger to his round chin in thought.   
"You'll have to ask Sally about that…"  
"I'm not dead…right? I can return to my Planet, right?" Cloud asked urgently. He thought of Tifa first, then all of his other friends…What if he never saw any of them again?   
"…I'm sorry Cloud, but I'm really not sure…"  
  


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Muahahahaahaha! IS Cloud dead? WHAT is Sephi searching for? WHO is Margaret? …Well, I can answer that last one actually. At the end of the movie, Dr. Finklestien had created another helper-y'know the whole half-a-brain thing. I decided to give her a name, and seeing as I had JUST watched the Simpsons, all I could think of was "Marge." So Margaret it is. Well, review as always! Thanks a bunch, bai bai! ::bows and runs away:: 


	3. Lockheart

Not much to say today...   
DISCLAIMER: Okay, you all know I don't own it  
  


Chapter Three: Lockheart

  
  


* * *

  
Tifa frowned. This was getting ridiculous. She and Cid had been searching the Sleeping Forest for a while now, but of course, without the Lunar Harp, it was hard to get very far. They now sat in Bone Village, exhausted, but still worried. Cloud had been missing since he left Tifa behind in Bone Village to go into the Sleeping Forest. She was still angry about that, but could do nothing about the past.  
Cid, sitting next to Tifa, sighed.   
"This is stupid. I'm going to bed. You coming?"   
Tifa looked up to him as he stood.   
"Nah…I'm going back in to look for him."   
"Oh c'mon…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out his pack of cigarettes. Swearing as he saw that it was empty, he shoved it back into his pocket as a reminder to buy another pack. He looked back to Tifa. "We already looked for him enough! He'll turn up soon…I'm sure he found something interesting. Maybe he found enough money to pay for the damn repairs for the Highwind. It's nighttime anyway. It's too dangerous for you to be out and about in the forest."   
Tifa's ruby eyes trailed over to the entrance of the forest, thinking of Cloud. She also thought of Aeris for a quick second as she peered further into the forest. She felt drowsy for a moment before she heard Cid yell, "Hey Tifa! Move it!"   
Tifa snapped back into reality and looked down at her legs. She shrieked as she saw shadows climbing up her legs. She swatted at them but as she did, the shadows grabbed at her hands, eating her up faster. Cid looked around for something to pull her away with, but found nothing, so he bravely grabbed her arms and tried his best to pull her away. The shadows also pulled, and Tifa thought she was going to be ripped in half, but soon, she would feel nothing. For the shadows retaliated against Cid, knocking him back. Tifa yelled his name to make sure that he was all right but she wasn't sure he could hear her–she couldn't hear herself. The shadows had already crawled up to her neck.   
"Cloud!!" she yelled as loud as she could. She wanted him to hear her, wherever he was. She yelled his name again before the shadows came up and over her eyes.   
_Please don't worry Tifa…I only want you to help him,_ came a voice inside of Tifa's head. It was a familiar voice…feminine and pretty. The voice cooed again and Tifa closed her eyes–that is, if they were open in the first place.  
As far as she was concerned, she was simply floating. She felt weightless and there was darkness all around her, but with **her** comforting words, Tifa felt no worries. However, the soft voice was soon cut out as Tifa heard a sinister, familiar laugh.   
"Still trying to reach him?"   
Tifa whirled around but saw nothing. She looked all around, wanting to know if that voice really belonged to who she thought it was.   
"I can't have you interfering," continued the voice. "And even if you do help him, you'll only delay the inevitable."   
And he appeared before her. She gasped as she looked into the face of the man who killed her father, burned her hometown, and killed Aeris.   
Sephiroth.   
"You're…you're dead!" Tifa yelled, confused as to what the hell was going on. Sephiroth simply nodded. She yelled in continuance, "So how the hell can you be speaking to me?"   
He laughed coldly and answered, "Where do you think you are?"   
Tifa was at first confused at that but then she felt something under her feet. She looked down to see her feet on a tombstone and then gasped as scenery appeared around her–a graveyard with a huge full moon looming overhead and off to her right was a hill that curled over like an abnormally long fingernail. She gasped as Sephiroth grinned and put his hand to her face.   
"Welcome…to hell."   
  
Cloud sat on the wooden fence that separated one part of the large cemetery from another, thinking. _What could Sephiroth possibly be looking for?_ he thought over and over in his mind. He looked up toward the east for a quick second where he thought he felt a strange presence. He never was able to look into it, for Jack walked to him.  
"Well, according to the ghosts keeping an eye on the manor, he's not inside. That means he could be around any of the graveyards…Shall we look?" he asked, gazing out toward all of the many graveyards. Cloud nodded.   
"The faster I can kill him, the faster I can go home, right?"   
Jack nodded.   
"I believe so."   
Cloud jumped off of the fence and landed softly, his wing losing one feather. He watched as it floated to the ground, remembering something.   
"You're **sure** I can go home?" he asked, his mind on his friends. Jack put one bony finger to his chin.  
"I'm pretty sure. Sally wouldn't have asked for your help if she couldn't bring you back."   
"Let's hope so…I've got–"  
Cloud was interrupted by a holler of disgust to his and Jack's left. The two looked on as four vampires sped to Jack, each one holding a beautiful red rose in their tiny hands like it was a dirty diaper. Jack looked from them to the roses, then back up to their faces.   
"What's the problem?" he asked. They shook the flowers in his face.   
"This! It's…hiiiiiiiideous!!!" yelled the tallest.   
"The rose?" asked Cloud, confused. The widest shuddered.   
"These **things** have names?!"   
"Why don't you just leave them with me?" replied Jack, trying to calm them down. "I'll give them to the doctor to analyze."   
They seemed fine with that idea, so they each dropped the flowers into Jack's awaiting hands and then glided off, each one chattering about the roses. Jack looked to Cloud, offering them to him. Cloud picked one and looked at it.   
"What's their problem?" he asked, looking to Jack. Jack sighed and twirled one of the roses, gazing at it.   
"Though Sally and I don't mind it, the other citizens hate these flowers and rather the weeds or dead flowers around…that's why that other ghost is a problem…"  
Cloud shrugged, tucked the flower into the deep pocket of his pants, and looked to Jack. Jack nodded and they headed off into the cemetery.   
  
Tifa jumped back, already bleeding from various wounds and weakened by it. Her barriers had long since fallen and she was running out of enough stamina to use any magic. And she was running out of Ethers to replenish her stamina, or MP–Magic Power, and she didn't know how much longer she would last against him–Sephiroth. His blade could reach her from further away and because her fists and feet were her only weapons, she had to get in close, which was very hard with his speed and malice.   
"Give it up," Sephiroth commanded as he raised his sword to strike again. She was now hiding from him, sitting low against the tombstone. She had beaten him before–but she wasn't alone. She had Cloud with her…She held back a scream as Sephiroth's Masamune blade cut through one of the gravestones, slicing it right in half. As it felt it crumbled loudly into countless pieces. He spoke once again, "If you continue to hide, I'll eventually find you and slice you in half. Do you want that? You'll never see him again. You should give up and show yourself."   
As he sliced through another tombstone, she quickly moved behind a larger one, pressing her back up against it, trying to keep her eyes on his position. She knew that if she showed herself, he'd kill her anyway. She winced as he sliced through three more tombstones in one swing, telling her once again to show herself. She looked at her last Ether and pulled out the top and swallowed it. Maybe she could cast something to keep him busy as she ran away…She hopped up, her finger on a bright green ball in her glove. The ball was called Materia, the very thing that held magic of the Planet within it. Casting this magic took Magic Power, or stamina, and Ethers replenished Magic Power by a bit, thus enabling Tifa to cast a few more spells…  
"Ultima!" she yelled as she concentrated on the energy in the Materia. Sephiroth looked to her before a flash of green came before his eyes and he felt his body clench up as the magic of the ultimate spell did its work. Tifa ran as fast as she could away from him, her hair billowing in the rush behind her, having come out of its ponytail. Sephiroth grinned as he brushed off the attack and jumped up, landing in front of her. She tried to run away again but he grabbed her by the hair and held her close to him, grinning at something in the distance as he threatened her with his blade up to her neck.   
The 'something in the distance' was, of course, Cloud, who glared forward. Tifa saw him too and yelled his name, fear pouring out of her face, her tears doing the same from her eyes. Jack balled his bony hands into fists as the two ran toward Sephiroth, Cloud drawing his huge sword as they did. He yelled out Sephiroth's name in pure anger and hatred.  
"Cloud!!" yelled Tifa before Sephiroth twisted her wrists back. Jack halted and watched as Cloud jumped up, his blade raised as if to strike. The skeleton reached a bony hand out to him.   
"You might hit the girl!!!" he warned loudly. Cloud heard him and looked down at Tifa, finally noticing why Sephiroth hadn't killed her. He was using her as a shield so Cloud wouldn't be able to even touch him. Cloud was worried that it would be too late. For a moment, time seemed to freeze as he looked down at her with worry and fear that he was going to slay her thanks to his reckless actions, and she was looking up at him, scared of just about everything that was going on. For a moment, it seemed that Sephiroth would actually get his way…  
But almost instinctively, Cloud's long black wing started to flap and he hovered as he stared forward. He realized what was going on and stopped flapping it, dropping to the ground and landing softly on his feet in a crouched position.   
Tifa, who hadn't even noticed the wing, was breathless as a feather floated by her pretty face.  
"You haven't won yet, Sephiroth," spat Cloud as he stood, his sword ready again. Sephiroth pushed Tifa to the side fiercely, causing the girl to graze against the ground before coming to a stop, her head a mere foot away from hitting a gravestone. Cloud looked to her quick and then back to Sephiroth.   
"Why have you come here?" he asked, wanting answers, and wanting them NOW. Sephiroth waved his blade around as Cloud backed up slightly, thanks to the intense madness in Sephiroth's eyes.   
"Do you not understand? _It_ is here…"  
"What is?!"   
Sephiroth simply looked up to the sky, raising his arms, and laughing like the mad man he was. His wing, which had been hanging menacingly, started to flap and glyphs appeared both above him and below his dark boots. The one at his feet slowly started to rise as the one above him lowered, causing whatever part of him they went past to disappear. As the glyphs collided, there was a bright flash, and he was completely gone, yet his horrendous laughter still echoed in their minds.   
Cloud, deeming it safe, threw his sword down and ran to Tifa, kneeling at her side. She smiled to him and sat up, looking quickly as Jack ran lankly over.   
"Are you all right?" Cloud asked. Tifa nodded and looked at her hand, which had on a glove with blades attached to it, and rubbed one of the green Materia she had equipped to the glove–correctly called a claw, or in this case, her weapon's name was the Premium Heart. She concentrated a bit before saying the name of the spell to cast it.   
"Curaga!" ((And I know in FF7 it's simply Cure3 but Curaga sounds cooler >P))   
She felt her wounds close up as a soothing green aura wrapped itself around her body. After she felt her strength returning, she looked to Cloud happily.   
"I'm so glad I found you!"   
Her face then turned into a frown and she grabbed his cheek lightly.   
"It's been nearly a day. Let's go home!!"   
Cloud swatted at her hand and then rubbed at his now red cheek after she let go. He gestured to Jack and explained, "Well, we can't just leave. These people are in danger because of Sephiroth. I can't just leave them now. And…whatever the hell he's searching for, it can't be good."   
"Hell? He said **this** was hell," replied Tifa dryly. Jack frowned.   
"It most certainly is not!"   
"Oh, sorry Teef," Cloud said, saying her occasional nickname, "this is Jack. Jack, this is Tifa. We've been…friends since childhood."   
Tifa nodded to the skeleton and when he offered his hand to her, she grasped it and shook it happily. Cloud smiled and then looked back toward his sword. He got up and walked toward it, but halted as he was held back. He looked behind him to see Tifa tugging on his wing. She gazed up to him, looking confused.   
"Is it real?"   
Jack laughed.   
"Looks like we have some explaining to do…"  
  


* * *

  
Well I finally got it out. I should throw Vincent in here too 'cause he's all like…vamp-ish. Maybe not… ANYWAY Tifa is kewwwwwwwl so POO on Anti-Tifa people 'cause they piss me off. Oh…and Jack has to be a fighter person thing…what would be his weapon? I know! He could have a…STICK. …I'm kind of in a weird mood, so I'm gonna go. Bai now!! ::bows and runs away:: 


End file.
